Then came Gavin’s voice.
“I came because you said this was urgent.”
Another man answered.
Martin Hale.
“It is urgent. Someone’s been moving money through the Westbrook housing fund.”
Gavin’s attorneys had always known that Gavin and Martin had met that evening.
Gavin worked as an accountant for the Westbrook Development Group, a company managing affordable-housing projects across three Texas counties. Martin Hale was an independent auditor.
Gavin had told the jury that Martin called him after discovering suspicious financial records.
Prosecutors claimed Gavin killed Martin to prevent him from exposing Gavin’s theft.
The recording told a different story.
Gavin could be heard saying, “I warned the board about those payments. They told me the accounts had been corrected.”
Martin replied, “They weren’t corrected. They were buried.”
Then a door opened.
A third voice entered the room.
The laboratory technician stopped the recording.
“Do you recognize that voice?” Elena asked.
The technician adjusted the audio.
